City dad calls DILG for a public safety plan
ROXAS CITY – In a Peace and Order Council Meeting on October 13, this year held in a restaurant here, City Mayor Vicente B. Bermejo called for the support of the community and of the barangay officials to improve the already satisfactory peace and order situation of the city. He said that excellent peace and order situation will keep the city on the road towards economic development.
Present in the meeting were City Prosecutor Erwin Ignacio, Police Chief Insp. Leo Batiles, City DILG Officer Jose Aurelio Roldan, six City Councilors, the department heads of the City Government, civic organizations and the tri-media. Bermejo expressed his dismay, however, to the absence of any representative from the business sector. He said that their inputs in the meeting are important.
Chief Insp. Batiles pointed out that there are 110 police personnel in the city and that they religiously follow the national policy of operation assigning 90% of their force to the field while 10% takes charge of administrative and technical needs of the station.
However, the ratio of police personnel vis-à-vis the city population is way below the ideal proportion of one policeman per ten thousand people. Population in Roxas City is estimated to be 160,000.
It was also pointed out that a disturbing problem of the city is the increasing number of minors who are in conflict with law. Reports show that they are involved in numerous cases of theft and other non-index crimes.
Prosecutor Ignacio states that the city ordinance prohibiting minors in the city streets beyond eleven in the evening is inutile with the promulgation of RA 9344, authored by Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, which prohibits detention or arrest of minors.
In an answer, Mayor Bermejo, asked the present councilors to formulate another ordinance attuned to Pangilinan Law that can address the persisting problems of minors in conflict with law.
He also instructed Mr. Roldan of DILG to organize before the end of this year, a two-day workshop where representatives from all sectors of the community from public to private can converge to plan out the public safety program of the city.